Friday, September 27 2019 14:40

ArmInfo. Official Baku in  its repertoire has responded to a statement by the Prime Minister of  Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, in the UN General Assembly.  According to  APA, Hikmet Hajiyev, head of the foreign policy department of the  presidential administration of Azerbaijan, expressing his attitude to  Pashinyan's statement, assured that his speech was supposedly  completely distorted.

"Firstly, Nagorno-Karabakh is the "historical land of Azerbaijan" and  its integral part. On July 5, 1921, the Central Committee of the  Communist Party decided to retain Nagorno-Karabakh as part of  Azerbaijan.  Despite the false claims of the Armenians, this  expression did not use such an expression as" transfer of  Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, "namely," preservation, "said  Hajiyev, for some reason having crossed out the next 70 years of  history as part of the Soviet Union, and forgetting to mention that  Artsakh resigned from the Azerbaijan SSR in accordance with the  Constitution of the USSR.

Hajiyev continued that Armenia's claims to the unification of Armenia  or the independence of Nagorno- Karabakh also contradict the  principle of "Uti-possidetis" generally accepted in international law  and, therefore, are unjustified in the framework of international  law. The "Uti-possidetis" principle clearly defines that before  independence, Azerbaijan declared its independence within the borders  defined by Soviet laws. Secondly, the Prime Minister of Armenia,  speaking from the UN rostrum, kept silent on the fact of serious  violation by his country of obligations under the Charter UN I would  like to recall that according to paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the UN  Charter, "all states must refrain from using force or using force  against the territorial integrity or sovereignty of another state."  According to Chapter VII of the PA Statute "Activity associated with  threats to peace, breach of the peace and acts of aggression", the  occupation and military aggression are defined as serious  international crimes', "said Hajiyev, again having got an old song  about the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the alleged  ethnic cleansing.  "The fact of the military presence of the Armenian  armed forces in the "occupied territories" of Azerbaijan clearly  shows the true essence of the conflict. The Armenian leadership says  that the solution to the conflict should be resolved on the basis of  a formulation acceptable to Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.   Armenia and Azerbaijan are parties to the conflict. Azerbaijan has  Azerbaijani and the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh  region, "said Hajiyev.

To recall, Pashinyan in his speech from the UN rostrum, in  particular, stated: "The peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh  conflict is of crucial importance for the stability and the security  of our region. Since my very first day in office I have been taking  steps in this very context. With this end in view, I publicly stated  that any solution of the NK conflict must be acceptable for the  people of Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

It's noteworthy, that I was first Armenian leader to voice such  position about the settlement of the conflict.  I was heavily  criticized in my country for such a formula of solution which places  the three parties of conflict on an equal footing. Nevertheless, I  strongly believe that this is the only way to the peaceful and  lasting settlement of the conflict because it offers a possibility of  comprise, mutual respect and balance.

I introduced this formula not only publicly, but also within the  negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group  Co-Chairmanship. In order to move forward I expected similar  statement from Azerbaijan.  However, the highest authorities of  Azerbaijan remain on their position which aims at a solution of the  NK conflict acceptable only for the people of Azerbaijan.

What does it mean in reality? It means that the Azerbaijani  authorities do not have any intention to solve this conflict, instead  they want to defeat the people of Nagorno Karabakh, they don't want  to seek any compromise. What they aim at is a revenge for the  unsuccessful attempted aggressions against the people of Nagorno  Karabakh in 1990s and in 2016. This is why they are inflaming  anti-Armenian sentiments among their people. This is why they are  spreading enormous resources on armament. This is why the anti-  Armenian hate speech has become official policy in Azerbaijan.

In fact, the Azerbaijani authorities want to bring back the Soviet  time status of Nagorno Karabakh. But it is a futile effort because  the people of Soviet-era Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region declared  their independence and exercise their self-determination as did  Azerbaijan seceding from the Soviet Union. This position of  Azerbaijan is tantamount of claiming restoration of Soviet Union.   Azerbaijani government presents the NK conflict as a territorial  dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.  We totally disagree with  such an interpretation of the conflict. It is not a dispute between  Armenia and Azerbaijan. This dispute is not about territorial claims.   It is about people, about real men and women and their right to live  in their homeland in the way that their ancestors lived over many  centuries.

Unfortunately, the Azerbaijani authorities do not want to talk to  these people and negotiate with them because they want to have that  territories, but not the people. To be more precise, territories  without the people."